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::k4:
a r t i s t :: Catherine Wheel
t i t l e :: Chrome
d a t e :: 1993-07-20
l a b e l :: Fontana
g e n r e :: Rock
s o u r c e :: CD
b i t r a t e :: 255 kbps avg
e n c o d e r :: LAME 32bits version 3.98.4 (http://www.mp3dev.org/) -V0
t r a c k s :: 12
p l a y t i m e :: 53:54
s i z e :: 98.22 MB
tracklist
1 Kill Rhythm 3:51
2 I Confess 3:56
3 Crank 3:45
4 Broken Head 4:46
5 Pain 6:31
6 Strange Fruit 3:08
7 Chrome 3:54
8 The Nude 3:52
9 Ursa Major Space Station 5:09
10 Fripp 7:35
11 Half Life 4:08
12 Show Me Mary 3:19
releasenotes
The original title, Crank, would have been apt. Producer Gil Norton (Pixies,
Echo & the Bunnymen) was brought in to toughen this band's sound and set them
apart from the wave of U.K. upstarts who were pounding U.S. shores. That he
did. But it's not necessarily progress; Talk Talk's master experimentalist,
Tim Friese-Greene, gave Catherine Wheel's brilliant debut, Ferment, a dripping
beauty, opulent textures illuminating barely hidden firepower. On even the
most angry, aggressive tracks, such as "Texture" and "Shallow," this
shimmering, shuddering mist was still ever-present. Many of those glistening
touches have indeed been subtracted by Norton, and they're missed. That Chrome
is still a terrific LP proves Catherine Wheel capable of eclipsing the
overload. Like another sharp LP that "cranked" for an hour without much sonic
letup, Chrome reminds one of Sugar's Copper Blue. Not because Catherine Wheel
covered Hⁿsker Dⁿ on the 30 Century Man EP; it's because that was the last LP
that combined this kind of songwriting prowess, raging playing, dynamics, pop
tunes gone kablooey, and huge, bonfire sound. And unlike that toasty Sugar LP,
this twin-guitar quartet knows how to bring it down: both the spindly single
"Crank" and the resplendent "The Nude" seem almost tearful, they're so pretty
through the thickness, and the knockout "Strange Fruit" is as fulsome as it is
fierce. Rob Dickinson sings as if to choke on his words, yet never loses a
gritty determination backed soundly by his and Brian Futter's guitars. Add in
heavier versions of previous B-sides-that-deserved-better "Half Life" and
"Ursa Major Space Station," and you've got a double play from a band too
resolute to fall victim to sophomore slump wimp out, too talented to write
half-baked tunes in two minutes, and too strong to glaze out in a shoegaze
haze some pigeonholed them in after Ferment.
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Catherine_Wheel-Chrome-(518039)-CD-1993-k4_int